How many times

have I walked on the sand

especially

at my local beach?

Sandcastles and

holes dug by children

Scrabblings

small and large

by canine friends.

Lumps of wood

seaweed

human detritus

shells, rocks

graveyard for a variety

of aquatic life.

 

Yet seeing

footprints

transfixed me this morning.

How many sets of footprints

have marked the sand

only to be erased

by wind and water?

Such a passing marker

of the human race

that considers itself

so dominant

so apart

from the rest of God’s creation.

 

Are footprints

a symbol

a reminder

like this pandemic

that we are passing?

And what will will we do

with our brief time?

Shall we build

or destroy?